Using Dynamics GP for sales orders was a cumbersome process requiring several clicks, with each click opening a new window. SalesPad Desktop's tab structure allows CSRs to answer multiple calls at once and place orders for all of those customers simultaneously.

The Challenge

Detroit Radiator’s big challenge was meeting the demands of a high-velocity business. Detroit Radiator promises delivery anywhere in the lower 48 United States within two business days, serving about 30,000 customers from eight warehouses located across the U.S., including a warehouse and manufacturing facility at its headquarters.

Its distribution and manufacturing environments are anything but repetitive; there is no “one-size-fits-all” radiator for heavy duty trucks, even for those of the same make, model, and year. Everything depends on use — a truck on a farm requires a different system than the same truck hauling loads over the Rockies. And trucks can be on the road for many years.

Because of these variables, Detroit Radiator must keep many generations of components readily available. As a result, the company carries about 13,000 SKUs. To hit their 48-hour delivery target, Detroit Radiator Corporation’s customer service reps (CSRs) need real-time visibility into that entire inventory.

“Our CSRs need to quickly identify which warehouse has the radiator, view its cost, and generate the order,” says David Bitel, General Manager of Detroit Radiator Company, while pointing out that, in less than six months, his company’s customer service team grew from two people handling 60 calls daily to 10 people taking more than 400 calls per day.

All of Detroit Radiator Corporation’s business challenges can be traced to such growth.

“We envisioned 40 percent growth for 2010 and were concerned that the company’s accounting system couldn’t accommodate that. So, I recommended Dynamics GP,” Bitel says. “I deployed it that year, and was modifying Dynamics CRM to be the frontend application for looking up inventory and customers and for placing orders.”

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The Solution

SalesPad Desktop. “I fell out of my chair,” says Bitel, describing the first time he saw a SalesPad Desktop demo. “I knew this was exactly what this organization needed — an app that gives a holistic view of the customer right away, and then the ability to generate and ship the order.”

FAST ACCESS TO CUSTOMER AND INVENTORY DATA

Detroit Radiator Corporation CSRs had been able to view sales orders and inventory with Dynamics GP, but it was a cumbersome process requiring several clicks, with each click opening a new window. “If our CSR was trying to manage two customers at the same time, their screen would be littered with pop-up windows,” Bitel says.

SalesPad Desktop’s tab structure allows CSRs to answer multiple calls at once and place orders for all of those customers simultaneously. “They can look up the cross reference to a part number, create a new customer in the system, and process an order in 90 seconds,” he says.

Beyond streamlining customer engagements, SalesPad Desktop also provides CSRs with real-time visibility into inventory by lot number. CSRs can view cost by lot as well. “When we deployed SalesPad, we were purchasing components from a dozen different manufacturers with different pricing structures,” Bitel says. “While Dynamics GP gives us lot tracking capability, SalesPad tracks part numbers by vendor and cost. That’s critical to CSRs, because they’re negotiating on-the-spot with customers.”

Dynamics GP also doesn’t support lot tracking and serial tracking in parallel, and serial tracking is essential to warranty management. To that end, the company deployed SalesPad’s DataCollection. “Now we can scan serial numbers and populate custom fields inside SalesPad data tables,” Bitel says. “CSRs on warranty-related calls with customers can trace a serial number back to a specific invoice number, view that invoice, and immediately initiate the Return Material Authorization process.”

“OUR CUSTOMERS DON'T CALL US TO ORDER A RADIATOR SO THAT THEY CAN PUT IT ON A SHELF. THEIR TRUCK IS DOWN AND THEY NEED RESOLUTION — FAST.”

–David Bitel, General Manager of Detroit Radiator Co.

AUTOMATING PRODUCTION WORKFLOWS

SalesPad Desktop also automates previously manual workflows within the manufacturing process. “Before SalesPad, somebody would walk hand-written copies of product specs out to the production floor,” says Bitel. “As our business grew, you can imagine how poorly that process performed. So we embedded SalesPad’s item configurator into the CSR’s order-taking workflow.”

Now, Detroit Radiator CSRs can choose from different configuration options as they capture an order, which creates a Bill of Materials (BOM). The BOM is automatically routed to the production floor. “Then we enter that BOM into the work order inside of Dynamics GP,” Bitel says. “SalesPad streamlined that part of our business.”

INCREASING VISIBILITY AND PRODUCTIVITY

Asked to summarize SalesPad Desktop’s impact, Bitel uses one word: visualization. “Visualization at a customer level and at an inventory level is absolutely critical for a distributor, and SalesPad puts everything at our fingertips,” he said.

Bitel also credits SalesPad with allowing Detroit Radiator Corporation to manage aggressive growth while maintaining incremental headcount. “We run very lean, and that’s because we take advantage of workflow inside of SalesPad. I honestly can’t understand why anyone would use Dynamics GP without it.”